Chapter 85: What to Do When You’re Short on Money?

Half of July had already slipped by. The blazing sun scorched the earth, its rays growing ever more vicious. Standing out in the open with no shade, it felt as if the heat was roasting his skin right off.

At this very moment, Cao Shujie was standing inside the pigsty he had just built on the hillside, thinking back to when he went to see the piglets yesterday.

Their squealing still echoed in his ears, but what left the deepest impression wasn’t the sound—it was the stench. That reek was overwhelming.

“Maybe I should buy a few calves and lambs first, and cut down on the piglets,” Cao Shujie calculated to himself. Livestock farming needed to be approached step by step—no one gets fat off one meal.

Besides, the space he had set aside for farming was limited. The larger part of his land was still reserved mainly for seasonal fruit cultivation.

Standing at that high point and gazing out toward the vast mountains in the distance, Cao Shujie thought that if this trial run with livestock worked out, he’d expand later by leasing even more mountainsides, turning them into a dedicated grazing area.

But right now, there was something equally important. On this reserved plot of land, he was preparing to plant seasonal fruit crops to get cash flowing.

Fruit trees were great in the long term—stable once they matured—but ordinary saplings wouldn’t even start producing fruit until three years later, and five years before they bore in large quantities. Even if he drenched the saplings with Nutrient Solution, that wait was still at least two years.

Cao Shujie wasn’t about to just sit idle through such a long gap. He had to find something to bridge the cash flow!

On top of that, his little girl loved strawberries. He figured he could plant some for her to enjoy to her heart’s content, and sell the rest for profit. Kill two birds with one stone!

Which meant, of course, he needed greenhouses. Compared to other investments, that wasn’t too complicated.

The real problem, though, was that his funds were running out fast.

Taking out his phone, Cao Shujie found Ma Changrong’s number. He hesitated. Should he call Old Ma, invite him to a meal, and strengthen their ties a little?

In a society built on relationships, sometimes sharing a meal was the smoothest way to keep connections alive.

Once he thought of it, he acted. Cao Shujie dialed Ma Changrong directly.

At that moment, Ma Changrong was in the loan office of the Qingshi Town branch of Yiling Rural Commercial Bank, staring blankly at his desk.

Head office had assigned him heavy lending targets, but it was tough pushing out loans in a rural town.

Throwing money at people was easy enough—but the risk of repayment was another story.

He knew all too well: incomes in the countryside were low, and most farmers didn’t want to borrow from banks. Those who came did so out of desperation, and their repayment capacity was highly questionable.

“If only there were a few more young returnees like Mr. Cao, coming back to the village to start businesses…” Ma Changrong doodled idly with his pen.

Clients like that? Virtually no repayment risk—the bank’s job was a breeze.

“I wonder if Mr. Cao needs more funds?” Just thinking about his loan quota for the second half of the year gave Ma Changrong a headache.

Qingshi Town might have a dozen or so township enterprises, but most were small clothing workshops, shoe factories, a waterworks, one donkey farm, and two small fruit processing plants—that was it.

The picture made it clear: Qingshi Town’s economy wasn’t exactly thriving.

They all wanted loans, sure—but their assets had already been appraised to death. Take that clothing factory for example; they borrowed the most, and every time they added a new workshop, they’d drag Ma Changrong out to assess it for collateral, then mortgage it just to squeeze out a little more financing.

To put it bluntly, if the weeds in the roadside median could be mortgaged, that factory would’ve done it already. They had nothing left of value, and Ma Changrong didn’t dare keep pressing his luck.

Just as he was stewing over this, his phone rang from where he had tossed it aside. Glancing down, he saw the caller was Cao Shujie.

“Mr. Cao?” He answered without hesitation.

“Good morning, Mr. Cao!” Ma Changrong greeted warmly.

Cao Shujie chuckled, “Manager Ma, it’s not morning anymore. Give it another hour or so and it’ll be lunchtime.”

“Haha, what brings Mr. Cao calling today?” Ma Changrong didn’t mind his joking tone. A man like this could say whatever he liked.

Then came the real question: Cao Shujie asked if he had lunch plans—if not, why not share a meal and chat a bit?

Years of working in loans had honed Ma Changrong’s instincts. The moment he heard that, his heart ticked—there was more to this.

But with a “premium client” like Cao Shujie, he couldn’t be more pleased there *was* something to discuss.

“Alright, is Mr. Cao already in Qingshi Town?” he asked.

Looking out over the mountains, Cao Shujie thought it through: after heading home, washing up, and driving down, it’d be at least half an hour before he got there. So he replied, “Not yet. Got something to finish up first, but I’ll come straight over. No more than an hour at most.”

That suited Ma Changrong just fine. He still had more than an hour left before getting off work, and he wasn’t in a rush. He could wait.

Yet little over half an hour later, he looked up to see Cao Shujie walk in wearing shorts and a T-shirt.

Checking the time—yep, thirty minutes. Surprised, he stood up. “Didn’t Mr. Cao say an hour? You’re done already?”

“Manager Ma, after calling you, all I could think about was treating you to lunch. I didn’t want to delay, so I rushed to finish everything quickly.” Cao Shujie smiled smoothly—tailoring the story to suit the moment.

In Ma Changrong’s ears, that explanation sounded excellent. He felt genuinely valued by Mr. Cao!

“Still a little early though. I haven’t quite finished my shift. Why don’t you sit for a while first?”

“Oh, no sitting around. I actually have an evaluation work matter, and I’ll need Manager Ma’s personal expertise.” Cao Shujie grabbed his arm with a grin, tugging him right out the office.

After the usual polite back-and-forth, the two of them strolled out of the loan office together, chatting casually.

At the bank entrance, Ma Changrong gave a quick instruction to the lobby manager: watch the loan office, and if anyone came by, just say he was tied up—come back tomorrow.

In less than twenty minutes, the two men arrived at the same donkey meat restaurant where they had eaten last time.

Cao Shujie had enjoyed himself here before, particularly the donkey meat dishes.

“Boss, two jin of donkey belly sausage!” he called the moment they walked in. Then he raised his voice further, “And bring us a donkey whip!”

The tone carried a certain unrestrained flair.

Ma Changrong almost lost his composure.

He thought to himself, *Even if you wanted that kind of tonic, did you really have to shout it so loud?*

{Eating donkey whip (penis) is traditionally believed to boost sexual stamina, energy, and vitality, but scientifically it’s just protein with no proven special benefits.}

When some early diners in the restaurant overheard the rather sensitive word “donkey whip,” they all turned their heads to look. Ma Changrong grew even more embarrassed.

Fortunately, a few minutes later, they had finished ordering and slipped into a private room.

The two of them sipped tea while waiting for the dishes to be served, chatting idly about family matters. Not once did they touch upon the “important business”—the timing simply wasn’t right yet.

Once the larger dishes they had ordered were brought out, Cao Shujie immediately opened the bottle of baijiu he had brought along. “Manager Ma, go easy on it.”

“Alright, I’ve still got work this afternoon, can’t drink too much,” Ma Changrong agreed readily. Truth be told, there were some things that felt impossible to say without the mood that only alcohol could create.

(End of this chapter)